Dear Editor,

I read the article from your March 1st West Seattle Herald regarding the West Seattle Rainbow Girls.  Your reporter, Steve Shay, did a wonderful job depicting what The International Order of the Rainbow is about.

  As you and your readers may, or may not know, Rainbow has been around since the 1920's.  Back then "getting girls ready for life" meant teaching young women how to manage the household budget, plan luncheons for the guild or dinner parties for her husband's clients as well as how to sit and act like a lady.  Today it means so much more. Yes, Rainbow still teaches all those wonderful aspects of womanhood but it also teaches young women public speaking, how to prepare a business plan and budgets for a six month period of time, as well as how to work with diverse groups of people. As a service organization, our members get the opportunity to work with burned children at the Burned Children's Recovery Foundation, helping those in need at the local food banks and NW Harvest, spending time with our community's senior citizens at assisted living facilities, and planning events with adult advisers ranging in age from 25 to 80.  Mr. Shay, noted that Rainbow doesn't spend the money it raises on marketing for membership or paying a staff of administrators. All adults are strictly volunteers who have an interest in the girlhood of our nation.  Mr. Shay didn't mention that Rainbow is Global, having assemblies in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South America, and Germany to name a few countries.  The largest jurisdiction in the world is in Brazil.

As Mr. Shay reported, Rainbow focuses on giving back to the community - not many youth organizations can say that.  This year's state service project is NW Harvest.  Each local Assembly is required to raise 1000 pounds of food for our local food banks.  Donations can be made at the Alki Masonic Hall 4736 SW 40th.

I wanted to personally thank you for printing this article in your news paper and if there are ever any opportunities for the Rainbow Girls to provide service to the West Seattle and White Center communities I'm just a phone call 206-849-7906 or email janfernandezhunter@gmail.com away.

Again, thank you for your attention to our Organization.

Kind regards,

Jan Fernandez-Hunter
West Seattle